Warning: The following article includes SPOILERS for The Substance.The ending of The Substance gets explained by director Coralie Fargeat and stars Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. The body horror movie premiered on September 20 and follows celebrated actor Elizabeth Sparkle (Demi Moore), who uses the eponymous black-market drug to generate a younger version of herself, portrayed by Qualley. Though required to switch places every week, Sue (Qualley) takes advantage of Elizabeth and achieves rapid stardom. By The Substance’s ending, the two characters become a monster and eventually fall apart, leaving what remains of Elizabeth to seek out her star on the Walk of Fame.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Fargeat explained the final sequence of The Substance. Fargeat revealed that Elizabeth is “ free from her human body and appearance ,” adding that she accepts herself once again. The director also mentioned that she no longer worries about perception from others, and that her final form “represents the monstrous part that we try to hide so much because we feel that we can’t adapt or fit.” When it comes to the blood-soaked showroom scenes, she explained that it should make the audience reflect. Read more of Fargeat’s comments below:

Finally, it’s the moment where she’s free from her human body and appearance. It’s the first moment where she’s able to love herself. It’s the moment she sees herself, and it’s not disgust, but in fact, it’s as if she’s seeing her true self for the first time. Finally, she doesn’t have to care what she looks like, she doesn’t have to care what people are going to think. For the first time, there’s self-indulgence, tenderness. It’s the first time she looks at herself in the mirror and doesn’t criticize herself. She decides, okay, “I’m going to go out there, this is me, I have my right to have my place in the world.
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Thematically, to spray that crowd was like, “Okay, this is what you’re doing to us, so, now, f— off. Enough.” You’re all complicit in crafting this violence, so this is the violence back. It’s symbolic: Look at the violence, don’t shy away. All the violence that you project on me, the monster, at some points, it’s projected back on the audience, which is all of us.

Moore echoed Fargeat’s view on the ending of The Substance, explaining that Elizabeth is no longer worried about her vanity. Touching on the character of Sue, Qualley revealed that while she might have lacked emotion, transforming into the monster is a turning point, and confronting that live audience is a “heartfelt moment.” Read their comments below:

Demi Moore
:
It becomes the ultimate sense of the soul’s freedom, because she’s finally free of the prison of her own body, and she’s back to the purity in the sense of who she really is, without that. It’s just dissolving back into nothingness, from whence we all came.

Margaret Qualley
:
Sue is bereft of a soul through most of the film, and as her body falls apart, and she becomes this monster, that’s when she experiences love for the first time and fully accepts herself. When she’s going up on stage, that’s the most pure, heartfelt moment I got to experience in the context of this film, standing there, totally okay with who she is, asking directly for love and declaring who she is.

What Fargeat & Other’s Explanations Say About The Substance
Elizabeth Had To Embrace Herself Over Public Image

Throughout much of the film, Sue ignored her instructions for The Substance and showed no remorse for physically degenerating Elizabeth. Without the Stabilizer, Sue would quickly cease to exist, but she angrily murdered the original body. In a desperate attempt to maintain her fame and appearance, after losing an ear and various teeth, she reused the drug. However, the ending of The Substance revealed that she and Elizabeth became one again, in the form of a monster, which terrified a New Year’s Eve crowd eagerly anticipating Sue.

The opening of
The Substance
reveals that her star on the Walk of Fame has become worn over the years, and that the public seemed less interested in Elizabeth.

As mayhem erupted and someone attacked Elizabeth/Sue, their blended form eventually began to fall apart, spraying blood everywhere. Fargeat’s comments about this sequence make sense when considering that Hollywood and public opinion were largely responsible for what happened to Elizabeth, and her decision to use The Substance in the first place. Sue declared that what they were seeing was still her, but the audience was too concerned with her appearance. Then, as Fargeat and Moore explained, Elizabeth seemed to embrace herself, reaching her star on the Walk of Fame, which had an evolution of its own.

Our Take On The Substance Ending
Elizabeth Found Happiness, But At A Heavy Cost

The Substance explores issues related to aging and preserving self-worth, particularly when dealing with fame and how the entertainment industry treats celebrities. The film is not necessarily subtle, showing how easily Moore’s character was swayed into taking The Substance drug. Near the conclusion, when Elizabeth and Sue merged together, they still sought admiration from others, but were quickly targeted by the very people who once loved them.

As Elizabeth takes herself to the Walk of Fame one final time, she does seem at ease with everything that happened. However, over the course of The Substance, she let some of her own fears and outside influences get in the way of potentially finding that happiness sooner, whether in her next project or personal life.

Source: EW